Above: The gas can I purchased new in the early 90s. I may have bought this one on base at CLNC.
A very simple and sturdy design with an easy to use vent cap for easy pouring.
These are no longer sold in the US.
This is a model 1226. Decades of sun exposure have faded the red color that remains on the bottom of the container:
Original, brand name seal kits were sold for years. These have been discontinued:
Above image credit/source: ebay
The off brand units seem to be of lesser quality.
The gas can came along for many salt and freshwater canoe outings in N. Carolina, California and WA.
The area where I lived in N.C. was surrounded by fresh and saltwater areas that were very appropriate for a canoe.
I found a used canoe and separately, a used outboard. In many cases I would leave the outboard off and enjoy quiet paddling and much in the way of wildlife sightings out and about in the stillness of rivers and wetlands. I made good use of this rig later in California and in Washington State.
In the photo below, I’m ready to launch at Twin Spits (N.E. entrance to Hood Canal) on a low tide day.
Above:
A clamshell beach on the eastern shore of Rat Island, near Kilisut Harbor.
The can was also used for mowing on Whidbey Island:
Both major parties have taken turns in power over the past 40 years or so. For sure, there is a chunk of public policy that has become worse, not better. I think I touched bottom with news and politics a while back.
As time goes on, the consumer choices we have are becoming more restricted by a combination of government and big business policies, not Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden or the next bad guy DOD will be going after in distant lands.
Both major parties are OK with federal prohibition of alcohol and tobacco for adults age 18-20.
No such thing the day I graduated from high school.
That was before decades of military operations for your freedoms.
Armed Forces Recruiting Crisis
Decades after the lessons of Vietnam, the Pentagon seems to specialize in undeclared/unwon wars. Understandable why young people & their parents & grandparents would take a dim view on all this. Continuing on this path will wear down the energy American families once had for encouraging young people to enlist.
Thousands of American families have now had a loved one who did one or more tours in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Will they support new enlistments?
Ongoing Breakdown of Society
In past decades, people could do time in uniform, then return to the US with a feeling that they were living in the best country on the planet.
Standards have deteriorated. Today, the troops return to an ongoing breakdown of society.
Take a look at KOMO news on any random day for an ongoing breakdown of society update.
The comment section will advise on where we’re at.
Man dies after shootout in notorious south Seattle homeless encampment
Jeremy Harris – KOMO News
June 23rd 2025
From KOMO comments:
The WWII Generation had things up & running in the 80s and 90s. Will best advances in REAL ID & AI technologies make it better?
Will newspeople ask questions?
“National pride is declining in America.”
Several news articles cover the subject here.
If I was 20 years old today, I could think of a half dozen reasons to be less patriotic than I was at age 20 in 1980.
Possibly of interest:
by Jacob G. Hornberger
May 1, 2025
The US should maintain strong and ready military forces.
Look for newspeople and school teachers to ask zero questions in this area:
How Do The Troops Defend The Constitution?
Not asking about the oath of enlistment. Asking about what happens after the oath has been taken.
Love to see newspeople interview elected officials and let us know how sending US Troops to Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia, etc., is somehow defending the constitution.
Podcast 9 Defending The Constitution?
The USA is OK with lies about freedom
Biden honors Americans who ‘stood on the front lines of freedom’ in Veterans Day remarks
CNN Nov 11, 2023
Sorry, no newspeople available to ask:
Mr President,
Going back to the 1990 Operation Desert Shield,
How would American freedoms today be any different if US troops were never sent to Iraq?
Just Be Honest
Elected officials from both major political parties and high level DOD civilians speak of the US Armed Forces as if they function as some sort of giant civil rights organization.
The press plays along by not asking questions.
The post 911 era has been a time to tell the American people that US troops are sent to distant lands to defend American freedoms. This urban legend has run its course. People have seen enough now to know this is no more than a marketing strategy. Uniparty newspeople play along by not asking questions. Please see video below.
Memorial Day Marketing Strategy
The idea that the US Armed Forces are sent to distant lands to defend American rights and freedoms is repeated many times over.
The reality is that American freedoms may come and go and appear to be completely unrelated to military operations/US Troops in distant lands, or the Sound of Freedom over Coupeville.
Related:
Most And Least Meaningful Federal Holidays
Freedom to purchase an old gas can
More DOD Recruiting Denial 2025
The country struggles with:
Did hostile forces in distant lands attempt to replace US consumer demand with government demand and end the free enterprise system?
Hostile Forces in Distant Lands
Old Man Blog category:
Thoughts on changes in American culture relating to those born roughly in the late 50s & early 60s.
Original Old Man Blog here: https://oldmanblogdotcom.wordpress.com
New updates here: https://oakbaystarfish.com/category/old-man-blog/